Jul 24, 2008

malaysianinsider | ...Both Datuk Adnan Yaakob and Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat agreed with Ahmad that it was costly to maintain the national cars.

Ahmad had said that the high maintenance cost had driven the Terengganu government to decide on the purchase of 14 Mercedes Benz E200 Kompressor cars at a cost of RM3.43 million to replace the Perdana cars of its state executive councillors and senior government officers.

However, Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said the Terengganu government's purchase of the Mercedes Benz cars was not right at a time of economic uncertainty, and that it should have settled for a cheaper car such as a Toyota.

Adnan said his Mercedes Benz car, which had been in use for years since the time of Tun Khalil Yaakob as the menteri besar, ran up a maintenance cost of RM42,000 last year while a Perdana used by a state executive councillor had cost RM57,500 to maintain.

"The Terengganu menteri besar is basically right when he said the maintenance cost of the Proton Perdana V6 Executive is higher than that of the Mercedes Benz," he told reporters after the presentation of cheques to Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) students, here.

Adnan, however, said he did not want to support or oppose the decision of the Terengganu government to buy the 14 Mercedes Benz cars, adding that all decisions now had to take into consideration the current situation and needs of the people.

"The people now prefer to travel in a Kancil car or even a motorcycle if it is over a short distance," he said. ... selanjutnya.